Truvada as Safe as... Aspirin?

To read in full the side-effects label of any medication, whether it's for a headache or a serious condition, would be shocking to most. Pharmaceutical companies are required to list any and all possible side effects, regardless of how minuscule their chances of occurring may be. And since Truvada was approved for use as PrEP, naysayers have pointed fingers at the ghastly side effects of the drug without taking into consideration the comparison of common medication we use daily.

Now, a new report published in the Oxford Journal has found that PrEP is comparable to one of the most common drugs of all... Aspirin.

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles compared five major studies on PrEP for HIV infection with two major studies on aspirin Safety. Each medication was given a score based on how numbers needed to harm (NNH), or cause a reported side effect.

The report concluded that the use of Truvada as PrEP was favorable to Aspirin in terms of safety, but that more studies on long-term use were needed. Still, those users who have engaged in short or medium term PrEP should be reassured of the drug’s safety.

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